Every Friday evening, Oratia lifestyle block owner Anne Stone begins harvesting flowers from the garden her grandmother first tended 100 years ago. In another corner of the property, her youngest daughter Phoebe prepares organic seedlings under the shadow of a giant liquidambar that was planted by her great grandfather around the time the Titanic sank. And elsewhere, Anne’s eldest daughter Emma sets up stalls in a shed that was once used to pack apples when this entire region was nothing but Dalmatian-owned orchards and known as “the fruit bowl of Auckland”.
With four generations of the same family living, gardening and working on this block over the past 125 years life, the sense of history is inescapable. But although most of the other orcharding and wine families have moved away, and the property – which was once an orchard itself – has shrunk from 60-acres down to two, the spirit of growing and providing food is still thriving here.
On Friday evenings, the Stone family prepares for the growers’ market they
hold on their property every Saturday.
“It’s just lovely to be able to open your property and share it with the community,” says Anne, who sells her homegrown flowers at the markets. “It’s such a lovely cross-section of interesting people that come through here – it’s an event, people come along and they meet their friends, sit down, have a coffee and enjoy the whole ambience of the place.”
With 30 regular stallholders and hundreds of customers coming each Saturday, organising and running the market is no simple task. It requires several days worth of preparation for the family members, who each have their own dedicated roles on market days: Anne sells the homegrown seedlings and flowers, Phoebe prepares and sells coffee and bread, and Emma handles operations, logistics, the stallholders and the traffic up and down the driveway.
And all of it happens right in the property’s backyard. The various vendors selling produce, food, plants or crafts, are each given a sheltered stall either outside in a courtyard, or in the shed cafe – the former apple packing shed that was converted into a cafe in the 1990s.
Customers either park on the road or in a carpark on the block and are free to do their shopping, sit and listen to music, or wander the glades of Anne’s picturesque English cottage garden that has existed for over a century.
“It gives me so much joy to see people enjoying my garden, which I put so much love into each day,” says Anne. “My grandparents who started the property were, of course, really keen gardeners. And my mother had a huge knowledge of gardening which was great for me. And I’ve just sort of continued it, and now Emma and Phoebe are doing it too. To share what you’ve got with other people is so special.”
The beginnings
Although the market is now firmly established as a regular destination and source of fresh produce for many people in the West Auckland community, it only started a few years ago after the long-standing Oratia Market – which was held on the property next door – moved to another location and presently closed. With no regular local market in an area known for its legendary fruit and vegetables, there was a large gap that needed to be filled.
But the timing also corresponded with the passing of Anne’s husband and the girls’ father to cancer. Several weeks after his death, the people who leased the property’s shed cafe decided to walk away from the business. Emma and Phoebe felt it was time for something new.
“With the shed building now vacant and in need of some serious love and care, we decided to channel our energy into restoring it and working on a new venture together as a family in honour of Dad,” says Emma.
While it would usually involve a considerable amount of bureaucratic palaver to get approval to host a large retail event on private property, setting up the markets was simplified because of the existing resource consents for the shed cafe and immediate surroundings, which had been in place since the 1990s. Emma spoke to a member of the council about the possibility of holding a market in the space and they indicated the existing permits were sufficient.
After restoring and refurbishing the shed, securing stallholders and getting the word out, the family officially launched the market in October 2020 under the name The Shed Collective. Emma says they decided on this name to modernise the brand and to mitigate the association people would inevitably make with the former Oratia Markets. But there was another key factor that distinguished The Shed Collective from traditional growers’ and farmers’ markets – the food sold would be entirely plant based and spray free.
“Following a plant-based lifestyle is something close to our hearts, and it was important to us to undertake the market endeavour in a way that resonated with this ethos but didn’t feel restrictive or exclusive,” Emma says. “We no longer advertise or talk about the market as being plant-based because we believe it’s simply a market with wonderful stallholders and products that everyone can enjoy.”
The vendors
Three years in, it appears the decision to go plant based has paid off. Boutique yet bustling, the market has carved off its own niche, attracting loyal customers, a diverse range of regular vendors, and produce from as far away as Kaitaia and, on some weekends, Samoa.
Harry van Dyk – also known as Harry Garlik – is a regular Shed Collective stallholder who sells spray-free and organic fruit and vegetables from Northland. Every Saturday morning at 4:30am, he arrives at the Whangārei Growers’ Market and loads up his truck with bananas, apples, tomatoes, courgettes, salad greens – whatever is in season – from a handful of local vendors. By 5am, he’s on the road to Auckland to sell that produce at The Shed Collective.
“I’m a fruit magnet, always finding them,” he says. “I tap into those growers who’ve got enough. I say to them ‘buddy, if you grow it, I will sell it! I’ll turn up at your stall with no money, you’re gonna fill my truck up, and I’m going to give you the money on Monday.’ And they do it. They all know what I do.”
A Northland growing stalwart well-known for his homegrown garlic, Harry used to be a regular vendor at the Matakana and Takapuna markets. He was in the process of building his business when COVID-19 struck, closing markets around the country. His decision not to take the COVID-19 vaccine meant he was not allowed back at either market once they reopened. But not long after, however, Emma Stone got in touch with him and asked if he’d like a regular spot at the newly opened Shed Collective. Two years later, he’s got people lining up outside
his stall, waiting to purchase fresh Northland produce.
“It’s growing, mate,” he says. “These markets are busy from 8:30 all the way through to midday. Last Saturday we did $5,000 – that’s a really good day. But it’s normally around $3,500.
“They are so great, the people who run this place. That’s another reason why I love it here. The people are so lovely. It’s a family business, and they’re doing it all for the right reasons.”
Produce vendor Harry van Dyk
Koko beans cacao from Samoa
Mary McIntosh with her preserves
While some stallholders like Harry are fairly new to Oratia, others have been here all their lives. Mary McIntosh, 95, has a fortnightly stall at The Shed Collective, where she sells her homemade jams, preserves and sauces. Born just down the road in Henderson, she is the senior member and matriarch of the Corbans
– an iconic Lebanese wine-making family that settled in West Auckland in the late 1800s.
Jovial and quick-witted, Mary is an incredibly active and cherished member of the markets and the community, donating all her profits from the sale of her preserves to her local church.
“This is a good market,” she says. “I’ve known Anne for years. I was coming every Saturday but I got so busy and I sold so much stuff, I needed more time to prepare it. So now I come every fortnight. It’s all I can do to keep up.
“I’ve been offered to do so many markets on Sunday, but I won’t do it because I must have Sunday for church.”
Along with working at The Shed Collective, getting involved with the church and Auckland’s Lebanese community, Mary helps out with the administration and accounting once a week at her son’s dental practice. All in all, it’s a rigorous schedule that keeps her occupied for the entire fortnight. Fortunately, she doesn’t have to grow the fruit for the preserves herself; much of her produce comes from the trees and gardens of friends and relatives.
“A lot of people give me stuff because they know I do fundraising for the church. The other day I went to church and this man had two big bags of Granny Smith apples for me. And another lady, she’d been to Costco and she gave me four big jars of vinegar. People help all the time.”
One of the biggest drawcards of the market is the practical and well-spaced design of the main outdoor gathering place. Stallholders are located under shelter around the circumference of a central courtyard, in the middle of which a different local musician performs every week. The set-up allows everyone to be a part of a central hub, inviting families with children to sit, eat, play and listen to the music.
“It’s really cool, there’s this great community vibe here,” says Vicky Simonson of Tirimoana Honey – a regular stallholder at the market. “People come here, they buy, and they sit and enjoy the atmosphere. They always have amazing musicians which helps. It’s great for us stallholders as well.
“I don’t think I’ve ever had a bad day here, everyone’s in a great mood and the girls do a wonderful job of making everyone feel so good, it’s a nice place to come and work. It’s about connecting with the community. We go home feeling so great, and we look forward to coming here – it’s a highlight of our week.”
The work
Of course, for the Stone family, running a market on their own property is not all sunshine and melodies. Because much of the market is outdoors, it’s hugely weather dependent, and a morning squall can turn the entire event into bedlam. Emma says the biggest challenge is to ensure a full diverse range of stallholders each Saturday without forcing commitment from them, which is even more difficult in times of
bad weather.
While she says they try to run the market in a way that’s flexible and allows stallholder attendance to be as sporadic or frequent as possible, it has at times led to issues, particularly during the horrible weather over the past year.
“When we have a slew of cancellations on a Thursday because of a poor forecast for Saturday, it can lead to major headaches finding replacement stallholders. On days with horrific weather, we offer stallholders a full refund if they want to give the market a miss, but in general, it’s important to us that any given day has sufficient diversity of stalls to ensure that customers who come out enjoy the market and can purchase what they need. We’re always open on Saturdays, rain or shine.”
On the other hand, the flexibility and support of the family is a massive part of the relaxed, community atmosphere of The Shed Collective. Vendors are supplied with a complete set-up including gazebos, tables and shelter, so that all they need to bring on Saturdays is their merchandise. Emma, Phoebe and the third sister, Georgie – who currently lives in France – are incredibly active on social media, allowing them to champion and promote stallholders’ products throughout the week. All this goes a long way to attracting a certain type of vendor, usually a small local grower or business, whose values align with the ethos of the market and whose aim is to establish meaningful relationships with customers.
“The fact that The Shed Collective allows people to connect with local growers, bakers, and producers, and support their endeavours is very meaningful to us, but we also love and appreciate that the market has become a meeting place for people to forge connections and spend time together,” says Emma.
The new generation
When Anne grew up on the property, the surrounding landscape couldn’t have been more different. In every direction, it was nothing but vineyards and orchards, scattered with barns, sheds and country houses. The family picked fruit, swam in the property’s stream and enjoyed a landscape that seemed as far removed from city life
as possible.
Most of that is gone now. Across the road sits an endless grid of single storey houses that extends, unbroken, all the way to the CBD. The road, which was once quiet and empty, can quickly become a constant stream of traffic and noise.
The land, with its long liquidambar and oak-lined driveway, its early 1900s homestead, the sheep in the front paddock, exists as an island of preserved rural history in a sea of 21st century urban sprawl.
But to Anne, to have, on the edge of suburbia, a place that’s large enough to grow food and bring people together, is exactly what makes the market so
special. “To open our home, to share it with the community and families so that they can get fresh veggies and food, it’s wonderful, really.”
Likewise, Anne is just as thrilled that the traditions on which this property were built in 1908 are still very much what is attracting so many people to it today.
“There’s not many families that are still living on the grandparents’ original property. It’s pretty special to think that my grandparents were here, and Mum and Dad were here and that Charlie and I were here and now the girls are here. And it’s lovely that the girls love it as much as I do and to think that the property is still continuing in its own way.
“I feel privileged to live on the property and to be like the caretaker now of it. I’m very lucky to be able to live here.” •
